Musical instrument for teaching



W. H. HUTH.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT FOR TEACHING.

APPLlCATlON FILDIUNE23,19\9.

Patented 0m: 4, 1921.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WALTER H. 'HUTH, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT roe TEACHING.

i i i. Application filed June 23,

To (tl lwho'm z't qnay concem; I p p Be? it know: that I, lVarjrnnH. HtrrH, a citizen of the U'n'ited State sof Amerlca, and a resident of Chicago, Ill nois, have invented a certaid nevv and useful Improveme in; tasiai Instruments o Teaching, of which the following is a specification.

,[This invention relates to musical'toys 'or devices 0121156 in the 'teaching'of music.

Ih'epbject'oi the intention is to provide a device havin a construction and arrangement infwhich the notes'of the musical scale, or the lii'otes of" a. musical composition, if necessaryior desirable, as shown on the usual stafi, arerepresented by push buttons, so that 1 each button'represents a note in the scale, or in the musical composition, and in which-each push .button is connectedwith sound-producing means of any suitable character, concealedbehind the staff whereby, when ,anypush'button simulating a certain note loperated, the sound-producing meansfwillbe operated to cause the particular te to be sounded, as by the strikingof a hell or'other means tuned to produce the required note, and whereby the invention involves a musical scale or series of notes on a stat}, closely simulating printed music, but modified just enough to make the device operable as a musical instrument as well, as will more fully appear. a

It isalso an objectto provide certain details and'features of construction and combinations tending, to increase the general effcetiveness and the desirability of an instrument or device of this particular character.

To these and other useful ends the invention consists in matters hereinafter set forth and claimed.

:In the accompanying drawingsfFigure l is a plan of an instrument embodying the principles of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of said instrument, showing the-outer wallof the struc turebroken away to bring into view the sound-producing means inclosed therein.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail section showing one of the bells and itsallottcd push button, and the hammer which is operated by the push button tostrike the bell.

As thus illustrated, the invention comprises a box-or housing 1 having its top wall provided with five parallel lines 2 representmg the ordinary musical staff. These lines can be printed on the top of the box, or can Specification of Letters Patent.

1919. Serial No. 306,089. g

be formed in any suitable manner. The push buttons 3are arranged in the forni of a scale, and are preferably oval to make thein look like musical notes, butthe stem of each note, of course, is merely printed or otherwise formed on the top surfacelof the box. It will beunderstood, of course, that the notes can be arranged in any suitable manner. and can be arran ed torepresent either the simple scale, as s own, or a chromatic scaleit necessary or desirable. Also the notescan be arrangedjtb represent a melody, or some portion of a'musical composition if this is desired. In any event, though, the push buttons simulate. or represent the heads-of musical notes on a staff, and the usual clef l or any'of theolefs ordinarily employed, can be printed i in its proper place on the top ofthe box or housing. Each said note ha s' a stationary stem, and in this way'the buttons and stems give the appearance of ordinary fixed or printed notes, as the movements of the buttons are not noticeable and do notdisturb the stems of the notes.

Any suitable means can be employed for producing sounds corresponding to the notes of the scale by the operation of the push buttons. As shown, bells5 are inclosed in the box, and each push button has apivoted hammer or striker 6 for striking its allotted bell, the hammer and push button being held normally raised by a spring 7, so that when any push button is pressed downward its hammer will strike the proper bell. As shown. the axis of each striker, it will be seen. (see the arrangement shown in dotted lines in Fig. l) is disposed obliquely to the staff, instead of parallel therewith, whereby the notes of the scale are arranged close together, and the elements of the sound producing means are disposed to' advantage, as shown. It will be understoodphowever,

that this is merely illustrative ofthe invention, and that soundproducing means of any. suitable character can be employed.

'Also, of course, the means whereby the push Patented Octli4,

musical composition, as represented by the notes ordinarily appearing on a sheet of printed music, this is accomplished by op erating a key or other means to produce sounds corresponding to the notes of printed music. \Vith the herein described invention. however, the finger is placed directly on a note on the stafi', in order to produce the correspondim musical tone, and this will assist the child or even the adult student ot' music in learning the scale, and will help to fix in mind the tones which represent the notes of the scale, inasmuch as the sound producing means are controlled by devices which are located on the musical stall itself, and which simulate the notes of the scale, or the notes of a musical composition. In this way, therefore, there is a c oser relation between the instrumentalities which, in a sense to the vision represent the musical tones and the instrumentalities which actually produce the musical tones. In other words, the proposition is more or less psychological, for the musical note itself, as it appears on the staff, is capable of actuation to produce the musical tone which it represents. There is nothing to distract the mind, or to take the attention away :from the button which is pushed. as all of the mechanism forming the musical instrument part Of the structure is concealed except sai'dfbuttons. The sound, of course, does'not take the eye away from the music stall. Nothing happens, when a button is ,ushed, except that a sound is produced, and llatappeals only to the ear.

'Of course. the notes may also ha e the letters A, B, C, etc. associated therewith, as shown. to indicate the place which each note occupies. in the musical scale, and this will be true whether the notes have the arran' ernent of a scale or of a melody. or of a c aid, or anything else. The stall lines can be omitted, if desired, and the letters alone used as the means to indicate what the notes are. but the notes preferably have the relative arrangement necessary to simulate ordinary printed music. such as a scale or melody, or' other arrangement. on the ordinary stall, even though the latter may be omitted. \Vith the construction shown and described. the character of the device as a musical instrument, or its capacity to serve as a musical or semi-musical instrument, is practically entirely concealed, as there is very little, if anything. on the face of the device to indicate that it is capable of producing musical notes, or being used for musical purposes. Therefore. the structure closely simulates the actual appearance of ordinary printed music, or of a printed scale on an ordinary staff, this being the dominant or primary characteristic of the device, and its capacity for use as a musical instrument being secondary and practically c ncealed or rendered unobvious; for with the stationary stems. of the notes, the general cll'ect is that of notes which are entirely stationary on the stall, The stems extend vertically and tangentially to the side edge of the huhs in which the push buttons operate. so that each push button and its allotted stein have the appearance of being ioincd together whether the button is up or down As shown and described, the push buttons are preferably straight, as shown in Figs. and i, so that their upper ends are adapted 0 pass through the top wall of the housing or body 1, for convenience in assembling the parts. and said body or housing is of a portable character and adapted to rest on any suitable support to present the push buttons in position {or manual operation on the upper surface of the said top wall, thereby to operate the strikers in the chamber below the top wall, as explained, to produce musical tones corresponding to the notes represented by the push buttons on the music stall. The rectangular body thus equipped with everything necessary for the production of musical tones corresponding to the notes represented on the staff, by the impact of the strikers on the bells, or on any suitable vibratory sound producing means, can be placed in any desired position for the operation thereof, of course, but is preferab'ly dapted to rest horizontally upon a table or other support. or in such a position that the top wall of the housing or bod is more or less horizontal, or faces upwar so that the push buttons move downward to operate the strikers. As shown. the push buttons are oblong, when viewed at right angles to the surface of the top wall in which they operate, in order to more closely simulate the exact appearance of printed music, but they may be of any suitable or desired shape. As shown and described, a stem 8 is provided for each push button, so that each push button and its allotted stem will have the general form and appearance of a printed note. these stems being formed or provided in any suitable or desired manner on the surface of the top wall so that while each note has a movable head (the push button) it also preferably has a fixed or SttL tionary stein.

\Vhat I claim as my invention is:

1. In a musical instrument, the combination of a body having a horizontal top surface of requisite area, a staff on said surface, stems havin g fixed positions on the staff, downwardly movable push buttons forming the heads of the stems, with each stem extending from one side of its allotted push button, so that each stem and its push but ton have the appearance of being joined together whether the button is up or down, whereby each button can be operated with out disturbing its allotted stem, and sound producing means concealed under said staff and controlled by said push buttons, so that all of the mechanism of the instrument is concealed except said buttons, whereby the result of pushing a button appeals only to the ear, the fixed stems and movable push buttons being formed to simulate the notes of ordinary printed music.

2. A structure as specified in claim 1, said body being a rectangular flat box which contains the sound producing means, and said surface being the top of said box, which top has holes therein for said push buttons, with the bottom of said box spaced a distance below the top and having the sound producing, means mounted thereon, and each push button having a striker extending obliquely to the staff.

3. A structure as specified in claim 1, said notes being arranged on the staff to form a scale having note-heads elongated longitudinally of the staff and each provided with a letter correspondin to the note which it represents in said sea e.

4. In a musical instrument, the combina' tion of a portable hollow body forming a chamber having a top wall provided with holes therein, pivoted strikers in said chamber, sound producing means inclosed in said chamber and located to respond to the impact of said strikers to produce musical tones, a music staff on said top wall, the axis of each striker extending obliquely to said staff, and push buttons representing notes on said staff and movable up and down in said holes to actuate the strikers.

WALTER H. HUTH. 

